Brief

Volodymyr Zelensky entered the European Council room in Brussels to applause, handshakes and embraces, with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico the visible holdout. Zelensky used the second day of the summit to press for a winter package covering energy, air defence and financing, and he put Ukraine's 2027 financial needs on the table alongside the 2026 bill.

Ursula von der Leyen said Russia was trying to destroy Ukraine's energy and water infrastructure and promised the EU would help Kyiv through the winter. António Costa told Zelensky that the EU could be counted on during the war and for Ukraine's future membership, after two more negotiating clusters opened in the week of 12 October. Von der Leyen said the aim is to open the last two clusters by the end of 2026, while Zelensky said Kyiv wants to start them before the end of this year.

The summit also exposed Europe's dependence on American-owned battlefield infrastructure. Kaja Kallas said Starlink is truly necessary for Ukraine and that Europe cannot replace that capacity in the short term, after restrictions on SpaceX's Starshield military satellite service on 14 October disrupted Ukrainian drone communications. Von der Leyen said the EU is preparing a 22nd sanctions package and will keep sanctions in place until Russia stops the war.

Police in Bend, Oregon, said a 16-year-old boy opened fire at Silver Rail Elementary School on 15 October, killing three children aged five, eight and 11, and a teacher. The first emergency call came at 12:59, officers reached the school at 13:02, and they found the suspect already shot dead. Investigators said he fired at locked doors to get inside before shooting people he found in the building.

A seven-year-old pupil and a 54-year-old teacher were taken to hospital in critical condition, Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz told reporters. Police said a bystander saw the suspect enter the school, followed him inside and confronted him, but spokesperson Sheila Miller said officials still did not know who had shot the suspect. The school, which has about 450 pupils and 40 employees, went into lockdown before classrooms were evacuated and children were bussed to Journey Church for family reunification.

Oregon Governor Tina Kotek attended the briefing and praised a community member for stepping in, before speaking about the grief families faced.

FBI chief Kash Patel said federal agents were at the scene and would provide whatever resources local investigators need. Police have not released a motive, the type of weapon, or whether the suspect knew anyone in the school.

Albania's student protests escalated in Tirana after secondary school pupils joined university students demanding Prime Minister Edi Rama's resignation. The movement began in late May over a tourism project on the protected Zvernec coast linked to Jared Kushner, then broadened into anger over tuition fees, university conditions, weak job prospects and corruption claims against senior officials.

Masked protesters threw stones at police, and police responded with water cannon, tear gas and batons. Demonstrators set rubbish bins on fire to block streets, and reports said the education, justice and finance ministries were set alight on 15 October, prompting parliament to cancel its sitting. Police said 71 officers were injured and 160 protesters were arrested that evening, while other reports counted 152 arrests and 324 people under investigation across three days.

Edi Rama broke his silence first with a video from the damaged College of Europe building, near his office, and blamed the opposition for hiding behind masked groups. On 16 October he posted another video on Facebook, saying the unrest had nothing to do with hardship or legitimate demands for a better life, and alleging unnamed foreign hands were stirring violence to block Albania's EU membership bid. He gave no evidence for that claim and said students were welcome to discuss solutions.

The protesters say they are not tied to any party. Their slogans target both Rama and opposition leader Sali Berisha, and students say they will not negotiate their demands short of the government's departure.

Pope Leo XIV, 71, is recovering at Rome's Gemelli Hospital after doctors removed the lower lobe of his right lung on 13 October following a diagnosis of adenocarcinoma, the most common form of lung cancer. The Vatican said the operation lasted 90 minutes, the cancer was caught early, and further tests are checking whether it has spread.

A medical update on 16 October, signed by Dr Luigi Carbone and Dr Stefano Margaritora, said blood tests and a chest X-ray confirmed steady improvement. The pope is continuing respiratory physiotherapy, carried out normal daily activities on his own, celebrated Mass in a room on Gemelli's 10th floor and worked during the day. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said doctors had not yet sent a discharge decision, and the original recovery timeframe remained about one week.

The Vatican said Leo XIV will deliver the Angelus on Sunday, 18 October, although it has not said whether he will speak from St Peter's Square or the hospital. Cardinal Pietro Parolin said a hospital recitation is possible and depends on recovery.

Audiences are cancelled through 20 October. Planning continues for a Latin America trip scheduled from 6 November, but the Vatican made clear that publishing the list of accredited journalists does not guarantee the journey will go ahead.

Italy's civilian air-traffic manager ENAV restored operations to full capacity after a fault in the national data-transmission network slowed or halted flights from 6am on 16 October. The agency cut handling capacity by about 50% while anomalies persisted and said it did so to preserve safety. It also ruled out a hacker attack or sabotage.

The disruption reached airports across the country, including Rome Fiumicino, Milan Linate, Trieste and Lamezia Terme. At Fiumicino, 12 departing flights were cancelled and about 20 others were delayed by one to two hours. Naples was hit hard, with its operating rate temporarily halved from 28 to 14 movements an hour, and nine departures and eight arrivals cancelled. Turin recorded five cancelled departures and five cancelled arrivals, while Salerno lost one arrival and one departure from eight scheduled movements.

Passengers felt the fault well beyond Italy. An EasyJet flight from Geneva to Rome that was due to leave at 6am departed roughly three to three and a half hours late, after departure estimates slipped first to 7:30 and then to about 9. Some passengers with later connections chose to leave the aircraft, while the crew offered breakfast and kept the cabin calm.

ENAV's communiqué said full operations had been restored, ending the national disruption. Airport operators in Naples, Salerno and Turin told passengers to keep checking airline and official airport channels for updates.

The roof of Al-Khair, a private school in Peshawar's Dir Colony area, collapsed on 15 October while classes were in session. Reports put about 110 pupils in three classrooms when the structure came down, and outlets gave differing death tolls, with most accounts reporting at least 32 to 34 pupils and a teacher killed. More than 50 people were reported injured in several accounts.

Emergency crews reached the site within five minutes, and officials said everyone trapped under the rubble had been recovered by the end of the operation. Bilal Faizi, a spokesperson for emergency services in Peshawar, said rescuers pulled at least 40 children alive from the debris. He said the roof was made of mud and bricks, and that some children died of suffocation.

Police arrested the school's owner. Peshawar police chief Saeed Ahmed said the building was structurally weak, and the owner told officers recent rains had weakened the roof. Other officials cited substandard slabs and overloading, while relatives said they had repeatedly warned the owner about rainwater seeping into classrooms.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government ordered district committees to inspect private school buildings across the province, including rented premises. Inspectors must check roofs, ceilings, walls, columns, beams, foundations and staircases, then classify each building as safe, needing repairs, or potentially unsafe. Findings and recommendations are due within three days, and UNICEF called for periodic inspections and strict enforcement of safety standards.